Great blue Überdrop forms outside Enbridge hearings in Vancouver

Many Vancouverites are opposed to Enbridge building the Northern Gateway pipeline to carry oil from the Alberta tar sands to the B.C. coast. For one thing, they don't want to see that oil loaded onto tankers and possibly spilled in the waters off Kitimat.

Today (January 18), these people got a chance to express their love for the B.C. coast in a most colourful way. On the last day of the Enbridge hearings in the city, hundreds gathered outside the Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre and formed a giant blue water drop, the Überdrop.

"We are water!"

Joshua Berson

Local artist Zack Embree and activist A.J. Klein organized the community art project. “The Blue Drop is a symbol of unity, hope and enduring strength. AJ and I are combining community and art in order to draw attention to the need to protect land and water from resource extraction projects such as the Proposed Northern Gateway pipeline, and the Kinder Morgan pipeline, which is currently servicing tankers leaving our own inlet here in Vancouver,” Embree explained in a news release today.

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8 Comments

I've never seen any living creature drink or eat oil and live.

Jan 18, 2013 at 5:31pm

I support all those opposing the northern gateway pipeline, including Idle No More. Harper's Canada is not what my parents, great-grandparents build with their blood sweat and tears. Harper's behind closed doors and under the table deals erodes our Canadian consititution and basic human rights. We are here because of the environement. Without the environment, fresh air, clear clean water, all the creatures great and small that are part of our world, we could not and would not survive. The more man chooses to destroy the environment, man is in effect committing suicide. A lot of the general public is not aware at how much fresh water is used in extracting oil from under the earth. I've never seen any living creature drink or eat oil and live.

Ursula Twiss

Laurie S

Dawn Bishop

Jan 22, 2013 at 7:51am

What happened to democracy in Canada? Steven Harper is selling out Canada right before our eyes. He has children too; does he believe the side deal money he is making is going to save them from the destruction he is allowing? Is there some secret land the rest of the world is not aware of that allows him to sacrifice his own and the home of the native people and other citizens of this great land?During his reelection when his son tried to hug him but he did not embrace him back my blood ran cold and I knew we were in trouble.

@Tony Dorling

Jan 22, 2013 at 7:49pm

Darling Tony, further research into your link about hydrocarbon-eating bacteria indicates:

..."Unfortunately, however, most speculation about the fate of the methane releases was grounded in baseless conjecture — not on any hard data. Such unsupported speculation reminds us of the famous quote by Lord Kelvin in 1883:

"I often say that when you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meager and unsatisfactory kind; it may be the beginning of knowledge, but you have scarcely in your thoughts advanced to the state of Science, whatever the matter may be." "

i'm speaking of and refering to all wild life and their eco systems connected to all elements of life on earth: in the air, water, sea, and on land. While oil-covered birds have become an emblematic image of catastrophic oil spills, sea birds aren’t the only ones affected. Oil is extremely toxic to all wildlife, and the toxic effects on marine life begins as soon as the oil hits the water.

@Tony Doling - part 2 -

Jan 22, 2013 at 7:58pm

Oil does not have to be sticky to endanger wildlife. Both sticky oils such as crude oil and bunker fuels, and non-sticky oils such as refined petroleum products can affect different wildlife. Oils such as refined petroleum products do not last as long in the marine environment as crude or bunker fuel. They are not likely to stick to a bird or animal, but they are much more poisonous than crude oil or bunker fuel. While some of the following effects on sea birds, marine mammals and turtles can be caused by crude oil or bunker fuel, they are more commonly caused by refined oil products. Oil in the environment or oil that is ingested can cause:

-poisoning of wildlife higher up the food chain if they eat large amounts of other organisms that have taken oil into their tissues;-interference with breeding by making the animal too ill to breed, interfering with breeding behaviour such as a bird sitting on their eggs, or by reducing the number of eggs a bird will lay;-damage to the airways and lungs of marine mammals and turtles, congestion, pneumonia, emphysema and even death by breathing in droplets of oil, or oil fumes or gas;-damage to a marine mammal's or turtle's eyes, which can cause ulcers, conjunctivitis and blindness, making it difficult for them to find food, and sometimes causing starvation;-irritation or ulceration of skin, mouth or nasal cavities;-damage to and suppression of a marine mammal's immune system, sometimes causing secondary bacterial or fungal infections;-damage to red blood cells;-organ damage and failure such as a bird or marine mammal's liver;-damage to a bird's adrenal tissue which interferes with a bird's ability to maintain blood pressure, and concentration of fluid in its body;-decrease in the thickness of egg shells;-stress;-damage to fish eggs, larvae and young fish;contamination of beaches where turtles breed causing contamination of eggs, adult turtles or newly hatched turtles;-damage to estuaries, coral reefs, seagrass and mangrove habitats which are the breeding areas of many fish and crustaceans, interfering with their breeding;-tainting of fish, crustaceans, molluscs and algae;interference with a baleen whale's feeding system by tar-like oil, as this type of whale feeds by skimming the surface and filtering out the water; andpoisoning of young through the mother, as a dolphin calf.